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Quickly she looked to Flannery, and whatever look he had on his face made her eyes widen. I didn’t even think it was possible but it looked like she got paler.
“Ms. Feidhelm,” I called out to her, drawing her attention back to me. “Your boys?”
“Yeah. Yeah.” Her voice shook as she stepped back, opening the door to her house. “They’re just upstairs.”
“You mind calling them down? I’d like to speak to them.” I dusted the bottom of my feet on the mat before entering her home. Flannery followed behind me along with Fedel, who silently stood closest to the door.
“Bryan. Bryan! Robert! Get down here now!”
I glanced up at the floorboards, and dust fell from them as they scurried about.
“Would you like something to drink, Mr. Callahan?” she offered, already walking to the kitchen.
“Thank you, ma'am, but I’m fine. No need to trouble yourself,” I said.
She nodded, moving back to the bottom of the stairs, her hands shaking. She looked to me one more time before yelling, “Bryan! Robert! You got two seconds—”
“Coming!” they yelled, rushing down the stairs dressed in faded jeans and dark blue sweaters with small balls of fuzz on them. The minute they saw me, they stopped halfway down the stairs. They were twins, thirteen years old, with bright red hair.
“Mr. Callahan wanted to talk to you two,” their mother said to them.
“I’m guessing by the expressions on your faces you know who I am,” I said to them when they finally came down and stood beside their mother.
“Yes sir,” they said together; it was creepy as fuck.
“So can you explain to me why you thought it was a good idea to steal from me?” I asked, and the moment I did, their mother looked between them, fear now coating all of her body as she shook.
“Whatever they took, Mr. Callahan, I’ll repay! I swear to God I will repay it.” She sobbed.
“I’m sure you’d try to…but that doesn’t matter if they don’t understand the gravity of their choice. Besides, unless they have already spent my ten grand, I’m not sure why you would need to pay me back. You haven’t spent my money, have you?”
They swallowed one of them stepping forward. “We did.”
He was lying. I could tell he was lying from how shocked his brother looked to see him speak up.
“Bryan!” his mother yelled, sobbing harder as she smacked him on the shoulders. “What have you two done?! How can you be so dumb?!”
“Fedel, help Ms. Feidhelm into the kitchen.” She immediately dropped to her knees in front of me, grabbing my trousers.
“Please. Please don’t hurt them! They’re kids. Stupid fucking kids! I’ll punish them I swear. And we will repay you with interest! Mr. Callahan—”
I nodded to Fedel, and he took her away as she struggled in his arms, still begging and pleading as she disappeared around the corner of the hallway.
“You know it’s a sin to make your mother cry right?” Neither spoke. I stepped forward, and they both stepped back. “Lying to me is an even worse sin. You did not spend my money because I would know if a bunch of gingers were blowing ten grand on the East Side.”
“We didn’t do it on the East Side,” Bryan, apparently the smart mouth of the two argued. He was scared shitless but he couldn’t stop himself.
Grabbing him by the neck, I lifted him off his feet. “Little boy, you are working on my last goddamn nerve.”
“We didn’t spend it!” the other one, Robert, yelled as I let go of his brother.
“Shut up, Rob!”
“This was a dumb idea from the start!” he yelled back, then faced me. “We didn’t spend it. It’s all upstairs.”
“How did you know where and how to steal from me?”
“Uncle Flannery. We followed him.”
